Nearly 500 websites across the nation have been confirmed as containing pornographic materials, said Cai Mingzhao, deputy director of the Information Office of the State Council. Speaking in Beijing on Sunday, he said that members of the public have filed 22,000 complaints with the official online reporting center since it opened earlier this month.

About 95 percent of the complaints concern pornography on the net. Officials confirmed that nearly 500 of the websites published pornographic pictures, film clips and recorded video messages, said Cai.

News and commercial websites have been ordered to delete pornographic content by the end of September or face cancellation of their licenses to publish news stories.

Hundreds of Chinese websites, including the most influential ones, publish indecent and even pornographic content to attract readers. These have been the focus of complaints from many parents and educators.

(Xinhua News Agency July 19, 2004)